Beware of Little Expenses

Benjamin Franklin once said, “Beware of little expenses; a small leak will sink a great ship.”  So why not plug those leaks wherever possible?  Nonprofits are lucky in the sense that many products that are useful, if not necessary, for their functioning can be obtained for steep discounts – or even completely free!  I’m going to list off just a few of the many that are out there, chosen mostly because the discounts are good (at least 50%) and because I see their benefits to a nonprofit.  I’m not getting any sort of compensation from these companies and I can’t guarantee these offers will stay the same, just hoping to share helpful information that could reduce your nonprofit’s expenses.  Please keep in mind that most discounts come with eligibility restrictions so go check out each one to see if your nonprofit qualifies!

• TechSoup, QuickBooks Online, and Fathom.  TechSoup is a one-stop shop that has a smorgasbord of options for technology discounts, and all nonprofit organizations should go check it out.  But as a bookkeeper I have to focus on one (okay, well, actually two) in particular.  Nonprofits have to keep good financial records and the most popular software out there is QuickBooks Online.  TechSoup offers two versions – QBO Plus for $75 per year, and QBO Advanced for $160.  That is a 91% discount from retail!  Both have the features needed for nonprofit financial tracking and many nonprofits may be tempted to go for QBO Plus to save a few bucks – BUT WAIT!  QBO Advanced comes with a free subscription to Fathom (which is a $44 per month value).  Why should you care about Fathom?  Fathom is an integrated app that takes your QuickBooks data and creates beautiful graphs and insights into your organization’s performance – KPI’s (both financial and non-financial), forecasting, and benchmarking are some of the key features.  So the value of QBO Advanced with Fathom through TechSoup for only $160 per year is huge!

• Canva.  Many nonprofits use Canva to design social media posts, infographics, posters, or website content and the basic free version just doesn’t cut it.  Well, nonprofits can apply through the Canva website to receive all the premium features of Canva Pro for up to 10 people for absolutely free.

• Microsoft 365 Business Premium.  Does your nonprofit need Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Microsoft Teams, advanced security or any of the other apps and services included in Microsoft 365?  Might as well get it for free for up to 10 users (and $5/user/month beyond that)!

• GSuite and Google Ad Grants.  Prefer Google products like Gmail, Google Calendar, and Google Docs?  GSuite for Nonprofits is free with unlimited users or upgrade to a higher plan while maintaining a great nonprofit discount.  Through Google Ad Grants, your nonprofit could receive up to $10,000 of in-kind advertising from Google Ads to boost your visibility to volunteers or donors.

• Hootsuite.  Social media management is a time-consuming task, but essential for some nonprofits.  Manage and monitor your all your social media posts and engagement across platforms with a 50% nonprofit discount.

• Asana and Trello.  Need a digital task management solution?  Asana and Trello are great for keeping teams on the same page and tracking all the many moving parts within your nonprofit.  Each has a different look and feel so choose based on personal preference, but Asana offers a 50% discount, and Trello offers a 75% discount to nonprofits.

I know that budgets can be tight, so why not give yourself some wiggle room, cut down some expenses where you can, and have smoother sailing for the future.